Visakha Vidyalaya


Visakha Vidyalaya is a girls' school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is a National School managed by the central government providing primary and secondary education.
WWW visakhav.org

History

The school was established in 1917 by Celestina Dias as the Buddhist Girls College in a house called 'The Firs' in Turret Road, Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was the dream of Dias to train the school girls according to the Buddhist moral values and principles. In 1927 it moved to its present premises in Vajira Road, Colombo and was named Visakha Vidyalaya, after Visakha, a disciple of the Lord Buddha, by Lady Herbert Stanley the wife of the Governor of Ceylon at that time. In 1939 the school was affiliated with Lady Irwin College, New Delhi to conduct courses in Home economics. Science subjects were introduced to the curriculum in 1946, for the first time in a girls' school in Sri Lanka.

School motto

The school's motto is from the Alavaka Sutta in the Sutta Pitaka of the Tripitaka. When the yakkha Alavaka first confronted Buddha, he threatened to exterminate Buddha unless he, Buddha were to answer all his questions. One of the questions asked was "Kathansu Parisujjhati" to which Buddha replied, "Paññaya Parisujjhati".

Houses

All the current house names are derived from the names of four past principals of the school, Jeremias Dias the founder of the school, and Sir Don Baron Jayatilaka, who was once the patron of the school. There are six houses at Visakha:
House NameHouse Colours
DawesYellow and green
DiasRed and black
JayatilakeBlue and yellow
MotwaniOrange and black
PulimoodPurple and gold
WeerasooriyaLight blue and black

Notable alumni